Stars Celebrate Hayden Panettiere’s Life, Legacy, and Career
Viola Davis, Paris Hilton, Kim Cattrall, and more eulogized the late actress.
Photo: Getty Images CelebritiesDirt Bag Hayden Panettiere
The world is still reeling from the tragic loss of Hayden Panettiere, who passed away Sunday after being found unresponsive in a Greenville, South Carolina apartment. Panettiere, who began her career as a child actor, was known for her starring roles in TV shows such as Heroes and Nashville, and in movies like the third installment of the Bring It On franchise, Bring It On: All or Nothing.
Since news broke of her death on Monday, stars who knew and worked with her have flocked to social media to pay tribute to the late actress, who would have turned 37 on Friday.
Viola Davis
Davis starred alongside Panettiere in the 2016 film Custody, writing, “Your tests became your testimony, and your testimony became your legacy. You will be remembered.”
In the years before her death, Panettiere had been open about her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression. In her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which came out in May, Panettiere chronicled her life in the public eye, including a harrowing experience in which she was preyed upon by a “famous thirty-something British singer-songwriter” when she was just 18 years old.
Paris Hilton
Hilton, who got to know Panettiere as rising stars in early 2000s young Hollywood, posted a carousel of photos of the two together over the years. “I’ll always cherish our friendship,” she wrote. “All the memories we shared, and the special moments we had together.”
Bethany Joy Lenz
The One Tree Hill star Joy Lenz met Panettiere when she was a child actor playing Lizzie Spaulding on the CBS soap Guiding Light. “I’m crushed,” she wrote. “I knew that wild little blonde. Was she nine? Ten? I was eighteen […] Her intelligence was astonishing. She understood scenes and nuance and human struggle like no child I’d ever seen on camera. And she’d sit with you for a great conversation, then giggle and go play.”
Panettiere’s career dates back to when she was just 11 months old, appearing in a commercial for Playskool. She booked her first recurring TV role on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live when she was just four years old, and worked consistently up until her death, most recently in the 2026 psychological thriller Sleepwalker.
Kim Cattrall
Cattrall kept her tribute short and sweet, sharing a photo of the two of them and simply writing, “Rest in peace, sweet Hayden. Gone far too soon.” The pair worked together on the beloved 2005 Disney comedy Ice Princess, starring Michelle Trachtenberg. Trachtenberg, another staple of 90s and early 2000s child stardom, passed away just last year at age 39 due to complications from diabetes mellitus.
(Ice Princess is currently streaming on Disney+ if you want to feel nostalgic and more than a little sad.)
Alyson Stoner
Stoner, another former child star, who alongside Panettiere was one of the voices of Kairi in the video game franchise Kingdom Hearts, posted their own tearful video tribute. “I wanted to acknowledge Hadyen’s passing. I’ve worked with Hayden; I’ve worked with Hadyen’s brother, Jansen. And from one Kairi to another, I just wanted to acknowledge the tremendous loss, not only for the Kingdom Hearts family, but of course for all the loved ones and millions of lives that Hayden reached.
Wladimir Klitschko
In the running for the most heartbreaking tribute of all is Panettiere’s ex-fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Klitschko, with whom she shares an 11-year-old daughter. In his post, he shared his heartbreak and addressed their daughter directly, saying, “To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was.”
And these are just the grid posts.
Across social media, in stories and comments, names like Selma Blair, Jay Shetty, Kelly Osbourne, Beverley Mitchell, Gabrielle Union, and Blake Lively shared their own tributes to the actress who touched so many people with her work.
As Klitschko said in his post, young and talented people should not leave this world so soon.
- “Obsession” star Inde Navarette was spotted at Chateau Marmont with boyfriend Nick Aiello following her casting as Rogue in the new X-Men Movie. Star=born. [Just Jared]
- Anne Hathaway will reveal her baby’s gender to us when she’s ready. [E! News]
- Who among us doesn’t want to make $100 a day as an extra in Julia Fox’s gritty, Brooklyn-based, 90’s-era directorial debut? [Page Six]
- Law Roach is done being petty…except when it comes to designers who refused to work with Zendaya at the start of her career. [People]
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